My room is still in disrepair, but I got another idea, so here is yet another bassless guitar instrumental using iTunes' guitar models. Brit Pop model for the rhythm, brit pop + overdrive pedal for the melody, and bell bottom rock for the solo. My apologies if this is mixed badly, like "Moonlight", it was recorded on the spur of the moment and I spent about all of two minutes while tracking the parts going "That's a bit overwhelming" and toning them down in dB.
Bored on a Tuesday afternoon and being on a Queen binge the past few days(Particularly Wembley 86'), I decided to record a clip of myself playing around with my Boss DD-3 for UG. I hadn't played at all today yet, so the playing's a bit sloppy, but this is for fun, not show, so meh.
So late one night when I can't play guitar to avoid waking people, I decided to boot up Sony ACID for the first time and see what I could do with the built-in sounds. This is the result of about three hours fun, enjoy.
For the videogame cover album. Love PW, love Godot, love this song, so it seemed a good fit. Just a draft for now, especially since I want something in that spot where the piano is, but I don't know what yet.
Quick test of the tones from my new bass using one of the best-known basslines. Both pickups, bridge J, mid P, then the same order without the tone. Messed around with harmonics near the end, and even tried to play Billy Sheehan with a harmonic roll. =P
A little track I threw together in a few hours after coming up with and building off the riff earlier today. Keeping it as an emergency stand-in if I'm a minute or two below the designated time for the album, as it's not very worked out and this is a very rough take.
The Wall/In The Flesh - Pink Floyd
Pride & Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan (I know it's meant for Eb, I was too lazy to tune down. >< At least I remembered to switch to the neck pickup)
Layla - Derek & The Dominos/Eric Clapton(Excuse the weakness of the riff here, I was a bit tired while recording, so it didn't work as well as hoped) { Tags : riffs, pink, floyd, the, wall, flesh, pride, and, joy, stevie, ray, vaughan, SRV, layla, eric, clapton, derek, dominos, tone, demo }
Tone demo of my various lead sounds. Same setup and order of demo as the rhythm demo, but with the clean demo on the mid-neck position and the big muff's distortion was at 9 o' clock(which I've set back now) { Tags : lead, demo, pie, muff, big, russian, ibanez, tube, screamer, tubescreamer, dunlop, crybaby, wah, original }
G-F-C-D Demo of rhythm tones for the tone testing thread. Guitar is a Fender Stratocaster on the mid-bridge position, amp is a Fender Blues Junior with slight preamp breakup, all EQ maxed at 12 and the fat switch on. Combination's in order of use;
Clean
Big Muff Russian(All knobs at 12 o' clock)
Ibanez Tubescreamer(tone a 12 o' clock, drive 1 o' clock, level 9 o' clock)
Dunlop Crybaby wah
Big Muff + wah
Tubescreamer + wah { Tags : rhythm, demo, pie, muff, big, russian, ibanez, tube, screamer, tubescreamer, dunlop, crybaby, wah, original }
New tone demo. The strat is the same(all knobs 10, mid-bridge), amp EQ; 8 bass, 7 mid, 6 treble, preamp pushed to 6.5 for a little more breakup.
Tones in demo order;
Clean rhythm
Boss CE-5(both filters maxed to the right, depth 1 o' clock, rate 12 o' clock, level at 3 o' clock)
Ibanez TS9(same as before, but with drive rolled to 3 o' clock.)
Dunlop wah
Dunlop wah+Ibanez TS9
Dunlop Wah+Boss CE-5
Ibanez TS9DX+Boss CE-5
Just a quick bit of improv off the top of my head to get some opinions of my tone and playing. Usual setup of strat all at ten into a Crybaby wah and an Ibanez TS9(drive 1 o' clock, tone 2 o' clock, level 9 o' clock) through a Fender Blues Jr. with treble at 6, mid at 7, and bass at 8(not intended to work out like that, it just did).
Something I've been forgetting to do. Another member asked if I could do a demo of my Big Muff. Naturally I obliged. This was right before I got my wisdom teeth removed, and I ended up spending a while sick, so I forgot about this. Then listening to Black Sabbath reminded me.
stock Fender std. strat(mid-bridge pickups) into a Fender Blues Jr. with the EQ all to 12 and the fat switch down, the Muff the only pedal. Excuse my halfass playing, I hadn't touched the guitar in two days upon time of recording.
Track one of Skull! The Halloween EP. Actually a tribute to Ronnie James Dio - I never got into his work before he died, which I regret, as I'm loving it now. Rest peacefully, Ronnie.
Guitar is my new Carvin! Love it. ^^ Bass is me this time, on a P Bass with a J pickup in the bridge. Drums were "80's pop beat 09" and "Jazzy Rock Drums 01". Guitar and bass used a Diezel model in Garageband, which is one of the new amps in the 11' version, which is awesome(Variable mixing for individual tracks FTW!)
My entry in the blues duel in the Jazz & Blues forum, a cover of Jeff Beck's version of Stevie Wonder's Cause We've Ended As Lovers. Not the best, but it was the best of five takes, and most of it's improv, but I'm pretty sure Jeff does it similarly live. Not positive though. Blues is generally very improv-friendly though, so with any luck it'll get by.
Fun groove + too much free time + self-indulgent improv + too many pinch harmonics + recording while keeping a conversation going +having fun with different genres of loops + messing with sound effects = this. Almost put a laugh track in too.
This time the amp was based on a cranked Marshall with a boost added to push it off a cliff sonically.
It's a lot easier to play an organ part when you actually know how to play piano.
Thinking about maybe perhaps considering putting this on an album possibly. We'll see. For now it's going to probably be a single though, let me know what you think as always. :D
Electric boogaloo! Please excuse the playing quality, I'm not much of a metal lead player.
Settings;
Amp;
2 pre-amp
5.5 treble
10 bass
0/1 mids
2 master volume
0 reverb
Pedal;
Single-coil setting
EQ preset 1
treble 12 o'clock
Bass 1 o'clock
Mix and gain floored
volume 1 o'clock
Pre-release stream to try and get some hype for something I'm working on. The next album I release as Marco Normal is a symphonic prog rock album, so is taking a while to get even one track. Enter The Tilted Gentleman, a single-guitar slide blues side project. One guitar, one amp, two pedals, a mic and a voice.
This song is, in the tradition of the blues, ripping off and rehashing of another song. This one is based heavily on Ry Cooder's "Feelin' Bad Blues" from Crossroads. Let me know what you guys thin
NEITHER DOES NOT WARMING UP AND AD-LIBBING MOST OF THE LYRICS
GETTING UPSET WHEN YOU SCREW IT UP TOO
But oh well. Usual electric setup, acoustic preamp -> interface for acoustic, PG58 -> interface for vocals. Using Garageband on a new computer this time!
Found an old MP3 of the opening to one of my favourite shows as a kid, and decided I'd try learning it on guitar and bass. Ten minutes later, I have a rough idea of how the melody would be played on guitar. Sixteen tracks in Garageband later, I have a half-decent rendition. Same bass setup as usual, with both pickups on, and *gasp* a clean amp! VOlume on 4 this time instead of 12.
GRAAH I STILL NEED SOME PERCUSSION WHY DON'T I BUY SOME BONGOS ALREADY
Thank you Eddie Van Halen. Inspired by a recent Van Halen binge, this was another self-indulgent one-take track a la radio Wanker, but without the fancy ending.
Guitar was my tele into an 80's-based preset based on a cranked Marshall with a boost to push it off a cliff tonally. Loops in blog as usual.
A short little instrumental piece that hit me at 3:30 AM, the usual time for big inspiration to. Only this time I had a guitar and a computer nearby. As it's kind of 3:30 AM though, couldn't turn on the amp, so had to use Garageband's amp sim. Not as bad as I thought. Bluesbreaker setting for melody, custom setting for clean to be explained in another clip if so desired. Really liking this one as a nice, short, mellow piece
Yet another prototype track, this time me messing around with natural harmonics on a creatively lacking day. Probably not going to do anything with it, but figured I'd upload it since I recorded it.
An artist on youtube I enjoy, Rob Chappers, played a riff a lot, which I tried to learn. I did, then developed a chord progression around it from boredom. However I'm unsure as to whether I copied the riff properly and whether or not I can record it as original material or not. This is for ROb to view over.
A quick little harmonica instrumental done as a potential opener for my "30-day album" entry. Blown out on-the-spot, no practice beforehand, just pulled an E harmonica out, ran down the stairs, sat in front of a mic and recorded what happened, so it's a bit rough, but I had fun, here's hoping you do listening.
MORE OF THE TECHNO-MEETS-INSTRUMENTAL ROCK BECAUSE I NEED LOOPS AND HAVE NO MIDI CONTROLLER
Weird about this one actually. Tried to do it at 7, but couldn't think of anything. Came back two hours later out of habit and it came.
Amps and loops courtesy of Garageband. Custom setting of Brit Pop preset + OD pedal for all guitars except the solo. Custom setting based on Brian May's tone for the solo. Loops in blog.
Just a draft of the guitar parts for a song for Gramana. Custom setting based in equal parts on Frank Zappa and 70's Jeff Beck for melody guitar, custom setting based on Brian May's sound for the solo.
ORIGNAL CONTENT EPISODE VI: THE RETURN OF THE LOOPS
So I figured if I can't program loops around my guitaring, I'll Vai it and base my guitaring around what sounds good over the loop. Leaves more material for sharing with other real people I suppose.
DON'T KILL ME OVER THE HARMONY. Yes it was poorly mixed and it gets off-track. I'm planning to redo it, tell me what I did wrong.
Very barebones track. Found a fun little percussion loop and just started improvising over two and half minutes of it. Added a fade out, and this is the result.
Guitar is a tele into a dirty brit pop preset as always, percussion is the "Ceramic Drum 03" loop.
Eight minutes of out-of-tune, improvised, heartfelt piano! Seriously, that thing is heinously out-of-tune, the bottom three keys all hit the same note.
Cheery, mellow, melodicy goodness. Written and recorded in less than half an hour though, so kind of rough. The one piano loop going throughout is "Upbeat Electric Piano 01", with an altered version for the final measures. Usual tele into a modified dirty version of the Brit Pop preset for guitar.
Hooray loungeish music! Usual guitar! Usual for the guitar, "Cool Upright Bass 02" starting out, "Cool Upright Bass 03" for the change, "Classic Rock Beat 02" for the drums.
So, I'm working on a collaboration with a few friends, which I've been tasked with scoring the soundtrack for. This is one of the end themes I'm considering. I'll record and upload the other one tomorrow, tell me which you guys prefer.
Long overdue demo of my custom Carvin, Luna, this time with some distortion. Same EQing concern as last time, as well another, as the tubescreamer I was using had a low battery and I don't have any 9V's around right now.
Before some Brits run and tell me how I misspelled Britain, I know. When saving this, I accidentally hit "i" first, and kept it. If it bothers you, pretend it's an alternate universe where Trafford Leigh-Mallory is a Nazi spy Hugh Dowding kills in unarmed combat and Britain is spelled Britian.
Anyway! Second track of Skull! The Halloween EP. Same amps and such as last time. This one was inspired by Metallica and Iron Maiden, the latter being my favourite metal band. Drums were "80's Pop Beat 10"
Third track of Skull! The Halloween EP, and my attempt to get a Latin vibe going. If anything this is proof of just how dead the strings on my acoustic are...
Me messing around with a delay pedal and a bridge humbucker trying to make something that sounds like the theme for Detective Gumshoe from the Phoenix Wright games. First take, so I screw up in a lot of places, plus it was just for fun.
Second track on the next album. Originally had lyrics written out, but when I sang them, they sounded awkward to the plot, so I ad-libbed the vocal. I'm pleased with that, but not my voice, as always. If I were just an octave higher, I'd like my range...
PG58 for vocals, SM57 off-axis on a Blues Jr. with the Carvin going through the TS9DX for the guitars, running straight into a custom "bass amp" model in Garageband for bass with the P-bass. "Arena Run" synth for the synth s
Once more beware my voice. I actually warmed up and can sing with power behind it this time though, and I wrote the lyrics out instead of ad-libbing them like on Fly Away, so not as bad. Still playing with the mix, so it may seem a little off.
After a day of playing The World Ends With You and getting caught up in the mainly techno/J-pop/hip-hop soundtrack(Better than it sounds), I came up with an idea for a techno instrumental. Put down the chords, forgot about it for a few days, came back, and finished it with an improvised melody. Very fun to do.
Another from the Rock Opera, this one the theme of the two-sun planet, Avinahmein. A mix of Coruscant and Tatooine from SW, Citadel from Mass Effect, and the costal towns of any crime drama.
Also a tribute to Dick Dale. I don't play surf rock, but he had a huge impact on me. I also had the theme to Hawaii Five-O theme stuck in my head, so that's in the intro.
Usual fare, but for the post-Earth guitars, I switched to a Boss ST2 and a DD3 for a bigger sound.
Written and recorded for the Australia benefit album. Amazing what a single organ preset with a changing bassline and the same minor chord can do. Huge credit to Led Zeppelin as well, as No Quarter was a big influence on this song.
First and so far only sort-of-successful attempt at using an orchestra. Not really a song, just random noodling while trying to come up with a melody over a few chords on a string patch with a synth. Does show off the new acoustic though.
Blarg! I learned how to play seventh chords on guitar yesterday after years of hearing about them and knowing them on piano, and did this with them. Title is in-part because it's snowing, in-part because it's supposed to seem ominous and other things. Taylor 814CE mic'd with a Shure SM57, above the soundhole, into Garageband with a dynamics processor to even the peaks, and an EQ to morph the bass. { Tags : Acoustic, guitar, taylor, chords, seventh, eight, fourteen, music, rock, folk, snow, ash, ashes, sky }
I'm not entirely sure. But hey, where's the fun in music without stupid mistakes that could go either way? Still not happy with the electric guitar micing, but not much I can do.
